Bridget Grumet, metro columnist for the Austin American-Statesman in Austin, Texas, is an additional finalist in the over 35,000 circulation category of the Columns category of the Carmage Walls Commentary Prize competition.
Courtney Sebesta, managing editor of the Austin American-Statesman, submitted this entry nominating Grumet for this year's Carmage Walls Commentary Prize.
She wrote:
"When Austin voters decided in 2021 to reinstate a ban on homeless camping, city offcials promised a humane approach to enforcement: People would be given at least 72 hours’ notice before a camp was cleared, providing time for them to relocate and save important belongings. Homeless outreach staff would provide referrals to social services.
"At least in theory.
"In a trio of urgent and exclusively reported columns, Austin American-Statesman Metro columnist Bridget Grumet showed that in some cases, the opposite was happening. City crews bulldozed some encampments with scant notice. The poorest in our community were losing belongings tied to their livelihood and survival. And some camps were cleared without any homeless outreach staffers in sight, leaving no offers of help as people were losing nearly everything.
"With authoritative reporting and a compassionate eye, Bridget showed the devastating toll of such abrupt cleanups and how they undermine the goal of helping people out of homelessness. Not everyone wanted to hear those truths. Bridget’s reporting not only called out the powerful Austin Police Department, but she challenged popular opinion about one of the most polarizing issues in our community. About 57% of Austin voters had supported the 2021 ban on homeless camping, and a 2023 poll showed 55% of Austinites wanted to see more enforcement of the ban — meaning, more camp demolitions like the ones Bridget scrutinized.
"But Bridget’s work stayed true to the importance of City Hall keeping its promises — to the public in general, and to some of Austin’s most vulnerable residents in particular. After reading Bridget’s account of the camp demolition near Brandt Road, the mayor acknowledged the city’s failures were ‘not acceptable.’ City officials pledged to retrain employees to ensure that, in the future, residents of homeless encampments would receive advance notice of cleanups and referrals to services."
Her contest entry included three columns on this topic:
First column:
Cold shoulders
Second column:
Without warning
Third column
‘Not acceptable’
Among the comments made by contest judges: